'Bat-catching'
'Bat-catching'
by and published by James Gillray
hand-coloured etching and aquatint, published 19 January 1803
10 in. x 14 1/8 in. (254 mm x 358 mm) plate size; 10 5/8 in. x 14 in. (271 mm x 357 mm) paper size
Purchased, 1947
Reference Collection
NPG D12801
Sittersback to top
- Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764-1845), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 190 portraits. Identify
- Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (1770-1828), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 59 portraits. Identify
- Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816), Dramatist and parliamentary orator. Sitter associated with 168 portraits. Identify
- Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth (1757-1844), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 78 portraits. Identify
- George Tierney (1761-1830), Politician; MP for Southwark and Knaresborough. Sitter associated with 51 portraits. Identify
Artistback to top
- James Gillray (1756-1815), Caricaturist. Artist or producer associated with 887 portraits, Sitter in 7 portraits.
Events of 1803back to top
Current affairs
The Vice Society is formally established by John Reeves and his associates to campaign against blasphemy and immorality, particularly that perpetrated by Thomas Paine and the Edinburgh Review.Art and science
Erasmus Darwin's Temple of Nature published posthumously. A scientific treaty in the form of an elaborate couplet poem, its content anticipated some of the evolutionary ideas developed by his grandson, Charles Darwin, fifty years later.Construction of the Caledonian Canal begins.
International
War with France resumes, sparking new fears of a cross-channel invasion.United Irishman, Robert Emmett's attempted uprising in Dublin. Planned to coincide with Napoleon's expected invasion, it aimed to overthrow the English administration but ended in failure. Emmett is hanged along with several other conspirators.
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